


Turn and face the strain

by ftchocoholic



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Autism, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-12 06:57:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2099907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ftchocoholic/pseuds/ftchocoholic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Title from the David Bowie song Changes.</p><p>Fitzsimmons are forced to react to a potential change of circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A man is not an island

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whitchry9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitchry9/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo Fitz does not find change desirable.

Change. He knew that it was an inevitability of life, like Simmons bringing dead creatures into their laboratory or the universe’s eventual dissolution into chaos due to entropy. However, that didn’t automatically make it desirable. Corpses weren’t desirable.

After graduating from the Academy, he and Simmons had fought hard to be kept as a team. Generally, graduates were assigned by specialism, but in special cases pairs could be kept together. There was no guarantee that any initial assignments would last though. Despite his, no, their belief that science required continuity, the higher-ups at S.H.I.E.L.D. often seemed to dole out promotions and transfers willy-nilly. And now it was Jemma’s turn.

When he’d arrived at the lab that morning, the suits were waiting. He moved as if to speak, but they swiftly stepped aside. That was odd. Maybe they were waiting for a delivery or something. Frowning, he entered the lab, which was exactly the same as it had been when they left yesterday evening. Jemma had been delayed by paperwork but had promised that she’d be there in less than half an hour. This left Fitz to continue testing materials for their latest effort, the so-called Night Night Gun.

One hour passed, then two. Still no Jemma. Her absence was beginning to bother him, as he didn’t want to approve any materials without her input. You never knew quite how corrosive snake venom could be, after all. Sitting by his desk, he fiddled with a spare screw, counting the number of times he ended up tapping it on the table. By the time she appeared, at approximately 11.46am (and 18 seconds, not that he was counting), he was feeling close to frantic. He opened his mouth to question her, until he noticed her footsteps. Normally Jemma Simmons paced evenly and reassuringly around their lab, but that morning she tiptoed in like a ghost. That was a way to tell that she was feeling anxious or uncomfortable, she had informed him. However, he couldn’t quite work out what.

“Jem, what is it?” he asked, hearing the pad of her footsteps as she began to pace their lab.  
“They’re moving me. I can’t say any more, but I don’t know much about it as they kept questioning my work rather than their plans and…” She was cut off by the two agents he’d seen that morning.

“Dr Fitz, we need you to come with us. It’s non-negotiable.” He looked over at Jemma, who slowly nodded. Following the Agents was the only way that he was going to get any answers from them, so he didn't have any choice in the matter. Not that he'd have had a choice anyway. When S.H.I.E.L.D. told you to jump, you jumped. Or in his case, potentially ended up separated from the person you knew best.

Jemma had been the first friend he made at the Academy. Sometimes she felt like his only friend. They’d initially been rivals due to their status as the youngest students in their division, not to mention being the youngest foreign cadets in the history of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Outsiders often asked if it took something significant for them to turn from enemies to friends, such as a mountain troll, but neither of them were Hermione, nor did their friendship begin in such a sudden manner. In truth it grew slowly, like the fungal samples that Simmons was so fond of. After the third all-nighter, when he’d let her inspect his plans for a miniature drone to help them in the lab, they decided that what they had was friendship. Since then they’d been virtually inseparable. He thought that the higher-ups knew that at least. They were an intelligence agency, for goodness’ sake!

The two agents led Fitz along the corridor to a room that he presumed to be a stock cupboard. However, when it turned out to be a secure office he couldn’t even force himself to feign surprise. His mind was too consumed by one single thought: keep us together. Keepustogetherkeepustogetherkeepustogether. Fitz didn’t even notice that he was spinning the screw rapidly until one of the agents asked him politely to stop. (He’d forgotten that people don’t seem to like that sort of thing.) They then began talking at him, using words like “regrettable” and "not required", until, maddened by their lack of clarity, he burst out:  
"So why aren't you keeping us together then?"  
Overall, the agents didn’t seem very impressed with that. They stared at him with gazes as piercing as the eagle that S.H.I.E.L.D. chose as its logo, seemingly attempting to scold him for his impatience. Oh right, not questioning the system was important to them. But this didn’t mean that he had no right to find answers. “Didn’t you read our files? We come as a team, didn’t it specify that?” He was yelling now, but the agents remained unmoved by that particular fact. “Yes, Jemma is talented, she’s ridiculously talented, but I need her, ok? She’s…she’s my closest friend and the only person here who makes sense!” With that, he turned and stalked out of the room.


	2. We go together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma contemplates promotion, but would it be worth it if she lost her best friend along the way?

Jemma Simmons liked to think that she could deal with the unexpected. After all, some plant and animal species did seem to defy logic. However, surprises relating to work schedules were not her forte. They were halfway through a project: couldn’t the executives have waited until she’d finished synthesising her venom samples at least? Instead, she had been made to spend hours away from her work verifying her previous research to two agents, only to then be informed that she had just successfully been interviewed for a new role. Transfer effective immediately, including an upgrade in security status.

However, there was a condition to her (desired, expected) agreement. She would not be allowed to tell anyone, especially Leo, where she was going and what she’d be doing. She’d be on her own again, as she had been when she first moved to a new continent aged 16. That didn’t go well to begin with, to say the least. Jemma shuddered, recalling the misery of being friendless and surrounded by an unfamiliar culture where she had no idea how to behave. 

After what felt like forever, she was escorted back to the lab by the agents, who didn’t comment when she asked them to wait outside so that she could speak to Fitz. It would be harder for him, she felt. At least she tended to end up on the fringes of social groups by accident, whilst she sometimes suspected that she’d been his first true friend. He relied on their DWARFs more than lab technicians and she couldn’t fault him for that. Nor could she fault him for worrying about her: she had said that she’d be in the lab at 9am. This was definitely not 9am.  
“Jem, what is it?” He seemed ok so far. She could do this. Just take a deep breath…  
“They’re moving me.” Now this wasn’t looking quite as good. He’d gone pale and the screw in his hands was spinning wildly.  
“I can’t say any more, but I don’t know much about it as they kept questioning my work rather than their plans and…” she stopped, seeing the two agents re-enter the lab.  
“Dr Fitz, we need you to come with us. It’s non-negotiable” Fitz looked at her for guidance and she nodded. Hopefully the agents would reassure him, although that was unlikely. Even if they failed to do so, obeying authority would bode better for them both in the end. She hoped that he could see that.

Fifteen minutes later, Jemma had begun to clear part of her workspace when she heard a door slam along the corridor. Fitz. She stood up and headed towards the door to check that her suspicions were correct, only to find her way blocked by the agents.  
“Dr Simmons, please don’t try to interfere” one of the agents said, clearly not understanding that Jemma was the only person who Fitz would trust to explain the situation to him.  
“I’ll stop interfering when you stop attempting to harm your fellow agents by deliberately ignoring existing character reports, let alone protocol which states that scientists should not be taken off contracted projects until said contracts have been completed without both their prior consent and that of Director Fury himself?” and with that, she pushed past them and headed off to find Fitz.

He was curled up in a disused workroom when she found him, surrounded by nuts, bolts and twisted coils of copper wiring. He didn’t seem angry any more, just resigned, which to her was far worse.  
“Fitz? Leo?” she asked quietly, “do you want me here? I’ll go if you don’t.”  
“Jem?” he asked, raising his head, “I think so.”  
They sat there in silence for a while, listening to the sound of footsteps outside and the steady drip of a tap that hadn’t quite been turned off.  
“I locked and coded the door,” she stated, “so they won’t be able to get in here easily.” He snorted at that, a small grin playing at the corner of his mouth.  
“Do you still have to leave?” he asked, trying not to sound too much like he was pleading.  
“Considering that I just insulted their methods of recruitment, which went against what we learnt at the Academy, I don’t think that my services are exactly desired by them any longer,” she replied, “besides, we have a Night-Night gun prototype to finish.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine this fic to be set a few months pre-season 1. Obviously, Coulson and May know far better than to split Fitzsimmons up.


End file.
